Agency Boosts U Of H Bond Rating

Financial Recovery Is Cited

A major bond rating agency upgraded the University of Hartford's status Tuesday, a sign that the private school has begun to recover from serious financial problems.

Moody's Investors Service rated $70.2 million in university bonds as investment grade for the first time since 1997, when the bonds were downgraded because of the school's precarious financial standing.

The ratings are a measure of the risk to investors who may be interested in buying the bonds and an indication of an institution's financial health.

Moody's approved the new rating, saying the school's fiscal situation has stabilized because of conservative budget practices, better marketing to attract more undergraduates and an improving fund-raising record.

``It's a wonderful way to begin the new year,'' university President Walter Harrison said. ``It's really spectacular for us.''

The bond rating agency cited three consecutive years of balanced budgets, reversing an earlier trend of deep deficits in the mid-1990s.

The university struggled through a difficult period in the early 1990s as the economy soured and the state's college-age population declined. Full-time undergraduate enrollment was as low as 3,727 in 1992, but reached 4,168 last fall.

The new rating places the university's bonds in a category of medium-grade bonds, the lowest of the investment-grade categories but a significant, symbolic step upward for the university.

Harrison was named president three years ago with the understanding that putting the university on solid financial ground was a top priority. The new rating ``is tangible evidence we have succeeded,'' he said. ``It indicates Wall Street has confidence in the financial outlook for the university.''

Under Harrison, the university began an extensive line-by-line review of expenses and revenues to get control of costs. ``We know how every dollar is spent,'' he said.

The university also has had healthy tuition revenue increases over the past five years and has enjoyed ``an improving market position for [recruiting] full-time undergraduates ... in a highly competitive market environment,'' Moody's said.

At the same time, the school has suffered a slight decline in graduate enrollment, but Moody's said management ``remains committed to reviewing and selectively pruning lower-enrollment and higher-cost academic programs.''

The agency said the university has stepped up its fund-raising efforts but noted that much of the school's endowment is restricted to specific programs, limiting the university's flexibility in spending endowment income.

Nevertheless, university assets have increased significantly over the past five years as the result of major private contributions, including an $18.8 million gift in 1997 to the university's Hartt School from the estate of Mary Primrose Fuller. She was the widow of Alfred C. Fuller, founder of the Fuller Brush Co.